A Frenchman identified as Antoine Denevi has been arrested in southern Spain for allegedly supplying weapons to Amedy Coulibaly, who used the weapons as part of the deadly Paris attacks in January 2015.
Denevi, who is 27 years old and a citizen of France, was arrested on Tuesday in the municipality of Rincon de la Victoria, which is located in the southern province of Málaga. Denevi appeared before a judge in Madrid on Wednesday and denied selling any weapons to Coulibaly.
Spain’s interior ministry said in a statement that investigators had been able to determine that Denevi left France in the weeks after the January attacks in an alleged attempt to avoid police. He traveled to the Málaga province, where he is accused of continuing his illegal activities with a false ID.
Spanish investigators believe that Serbian nationals were also involved in his illegal activities and may have provided Denevi with weapons and ammunition. Two individuals of Serbian and Montenegrin nationality have also been arrested.
Coulibaly, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS) group, is believed to have shot dead a policewoman in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo shooting in Paris on January 7, 2015. He later entered a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris and took more than a dozen hostages. Five people were killed at the supermarket, including Coulibaly.
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